SMART Goal: To develop the skills necessary to create, manage, and build efficient and productive teams. This I seek to accomplish within a time frame of nine months.

Strategies and Action Plans:

To begin with, to enhance the efficiency of the teams I manage, I will seek to not only understand the personalities of various teams which I may find myself managing, but also make use of such an understanding to further enhance the productivity of the concerned teams, i.e. In the assignment of tasks and duties. As Buckingham (2005) observes, "managers will succeed only when they can identify and deploy the differences among people, challenging each employee to excel in his or her own way."

I will ensure that my engagements with those that I manage is more conversational, as opposed from top-to-down kind of conversation. This kind of approach, as Groysberg and Slind (2012) point out has a key advantage: it helps leaders formulate some unique group cohesion qualities such as enhanced employee engagement and operational flexibility.

I will also be seeking to further enhance and sharpen my decision making abilities, a step that will enable me to better manage conflict and point teams towards goal accomplishment.

Effective team management also requires a certain level of an individual's innovative capabilities. I will, towards this end, seek to further enhance my ability to introduce new solutions to problems, as well as new methods to established processes. Some of the sources of innovation which are highlighted by Drucker (2002), and which I could also explore, include "unexpected occurrences, incongruities, process needs, and industry and market changes."

Next, I also intend to enhance my understanding of the dynamics of team work and group behavior. This I could do by studying the causes of team dysfunction and familiarizing myself with strategies for group motivation.

Lastly, I plan to look for informative resources on how to delegate tasks more effectively.

Skill 3: Time management

Broad Goal: To improve my time management skills and be more organized

SMART Goal: I intend to learn how to manage my time and be more effective in not only the accomplishment of tasks, but also in scheduling of activities. This I hope to have accomplished within the next one year.

Strategies and Action Plans:

Time, in the opinion of Schwartz and McCarthy (2007), is a finite resource. The relevance of effective time management cannot, therefore, be overstated. Below are the strategies that I seek to implement to better manage my time.

To begin with, I intend to learn how to appropriately my energy. In the words of Schwartz and McCarthy (2007), "most of us respond to rising demands in the workplace by putting in longer hours, which inevitably take a toll on us physically, mentally, and emotionally." Later on, this leads to greater disconnectedness levels, increased distraction levels, and lack of engagement -- causing us to take more time to accomplish tasks than it would have ordinarily taken under ideal circumstances. As Schwartz and McCarthy (2007) recommend, I intend to get rid of energy-depleting behaviors such as getting to bed late. This will in turn have a positive impact on my capacity. Greater capacity, as Schwartz and McCarthy (2007) point out "makes it possible to get more done in less time…"

Secondly, prioritization of tasks will be key in this endeavor. Indeed, as Birkinshaw and Cohen (2013) advise, to be effective and productive, one ought to delegate or do away with tasks that are not important, and replace them with critical or value-added tasks.

I also intend to start making use of the relevant planning and time management tools. These include pocket diaries, phone apps, and index cards.

Procrastination is yet another harmful habit I need to do away with. There are times I find myself putting off urgent tasks for invalid reasons. I could get rid of procrastination by setting realistic deadlines and breaking down duties so that I do not feel overwhelmed.

Next, I will also better manage or get rid of external time wasters. These include, but they are not limited to, constant checks on my mails, checking news items from the various online news channels, etc.

Lastly, I will avoid multi-tasking as much as I can, and instead concentrate on completing definite and time-specific tasks. Studies, as Call (2008) points out, have clearly indicated that "people are much slower when switching between tasks," meaning that multitasking actually contributes towards time wastage.

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